People often mix up the terms ‘social’ and ‘corporate social responsibility (CSR),’ but it’s important to understand that CSR is just one piece of the larger social puzzle within Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) practices. While engaging in CSR initiatives helps address social risks, it’s equally crucial to recognize that a comprehensive approach beyond CSR is necessary for effectively managing and eliminating those risks.
In this chapter, let us look at job opportunities available within the social pillar of ESG:
Sector Analyst
Just like environment pillar, there various themes which indicates how much and in what way a company is contributing towards a society.
For example, if a company is providing financial services to underbanked sections of community, it is seen as contribution to society since that money will be used to uplift them from below poverty line. However, there is also negative side to this sector. Like if a company is deploying aggressive techniques to sell loans and charging very high interest, then it will put more people below poverty line.
Sector Analyst would figure out how much a company is earning from providing loans to underbanked customers or deploying aggressive techniques. Prerequisites are also limited such as understanding financial statements and ability to find information on the internet.
CSR
If you are someone who lights up every time you help a stranger on street, then joining CSR department of a company maybe the perfect job for you. The best part is almost every medium to big corporation has CSR department, so options are virtually limitless. All you need is desire to help others.
Social Impact Consultants
Nowadays when companies plan on launching any new products/project apart from assessing its financial impact, they also see how it will impact society at large – the positives and negatives. This assessment is done by consultants who specialize in social impact.
Supply chain
Socially responsible also means sourcing raw materials and services required to run business ethically. There are various jobs available within supply chain which focuses on making supply chain more sustainable.
This concludes our module on career options in social pillar, let us now look at governance, most overlooked pillar of ESG.
Governance
Governance refers to the structures and processes through which a company manages itself and interacts with its various stakeholders, including shareholders, suppliers, competitors, and governments. It encompasses a wide array of elements, ranging from internal controls and decision-making protocols to corporate disclosure practices and performance evaluation mechanisms.
Let us look at career options one can pursue within governance pillar of ESG:
Corporate governance
There are various policies a company maintains for supplier, brand partner, customer to ensure a smooth and long-lasting association with external stakeholders. This policy needs to regularly updated with changes in markets and a corporate governance officer will work on maintaining existing policies as well creating new ones as and when required.
Compliance officer
Companies needs to legally be compliant with various laws and regulations relevant to local municipal they are operating in. A compliance officer makes sure that company is always compliant with all laws and regulation and is not in any risk by violating them.
Internal auditor
Auditing a company’s governance frameworks can point out various weak points and reduce governance risks a company faces. For this reasons companies appoint Internal auditor who identify and rectify any governance risks faced by company.
This concludes our chapter on career options available within social and governance pillar of ESG.
In the next chapter we will look at what are the courses, certifications, and professional certifications one should obtain to give you that edge over other applicants.
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